Page 120 of Fractured Ties

Alexei’s grip on Maya’s arm tightened to a painful point. “I can’t make the flight go any faster, boss.”

“Mmm. She’s a sprite, no? Tiny thing.”

“Yeah, well, for whatever reason … she seems to be something they enjoy looking at, yeah? Between the Albanian and Kolya Boykov, they can’t fucking get enough.”

The unknown man chuckled. “So it seems, yes. Once we’re done ruining the Boykovs in Chicago through the sons, she will be a good bargaining chip to smooth things out with the Albanians and calm their rage. Just what I needed. Well done, Alexei. But you didn’t need me to tell you that.”

“I do enjoy praise, occasionally.”

A scoff answered her brother back. “You won’t get much of that from me—don’t expect to. How long are we going to stand out here on this tarmac? I have better places to be and good vodka to drink. I think I deserve one after all this. We’re almost at the end.”

“Do you think this plan of ours is going to work?”

Maya heard the condescending smile in the unknown man’s voice when he replied, “It has no reason not to work, yes? And once it does, I’ll absorb Chicago into my own organization. The entire east coast operation will be mainly controlled by me. And all because someone wanted a woman. It’d be funny if it weren’t so fucking disgusting. These boys have yet to learn that women are very rarely worth this kind of effort.” A sigh echoed before the man added, “Are we going, or not? I hate standing around.”

“Anytime, boss.”

The man muttered something in Russian, too low for Maya to understand what he was saying, before she was dragged along again. She’d figured staying quiet and listening was the better option.

She still had to plan a way out of this, after all.

• • •

It was disconcerting to be shuffled around from place to place like a sack of potatoes. Disorienting might be a better word. Alexei and the other man barely spoke a word to Maya as she was put in one car and then another. They said nothing during the drive except for the occasional order to who she suspected was a driver.

But it was hard to say.

The longer Maya had been forced to keep that hood over her head, the better she dealt with it. It wasn’t so claustrophobic and she actually started to feel like she could breathe. She was just getting accustomed to the darkness when she was shuffled from another car and walked for what felt like forever before the unknown man spoke.

“Make her comfortable,” he said.

“She doesn’t give a shit about comfort, yeah?”

The man sighed. “I didn’t realize that was a suggestion, Alexei.”

Her brother grunted under his breath before his hand was back on her arm and his fingers dug into her muscles painfully again. He made no effort to carefully or kindly move her across the room before a chair scraped along the floor, and then he was barking at her.

“Sit, Maya.”

Like she was a dog or something.

Maya bristled, and had a good mind to tell him to go fuck himself. Her fists clenched in front of her—they’d slipped zip ties around her wrists during one of the drives because apparently, she couldn’t be trusted. Not that she had done anything to warrant that kind of treatment.

She chose to sit without a fight, but only because she was tired. Maya wasn’t sure how long she had been up for now, but it had to be closing in on twenty-four hours. Getting a second to sit down in something that wasn’t moving seemed like a good choice, all things considered.

The second she did sit down, that hood was finally ripped from her head. Maya blinked when bright lights instantly blinded her. It took more than a couple of seconds for her to get used to the change and recognize what she was staring at.

Not fucking much.

A room in a house, it looked like. Nothing spectacular to look at, and it certainly didn’t look lived in, so to speak. There were no curtains on the windows, and not a lot of furniture. Alexei was quick to move behind her to loom there like a threat on her back that she couldn’t possibly forget.

All the while, her gaze landed on the man sitting across the room from her in the only other chair except for hers. His large, high-back leather chair with curved arms looked a hell of a lot more comfortable than her hard, plastic one. Next to his seat was a small table with a crystal dispenser of what looked like liquor, and he held a matching crystal goblet filled with the same colored liquid.

She took in his older features as he lifted the glass and sipped on his drink while he watched her like she was an animal that might bolt. He appraised her with his gaze, not even bothering to hide the way he lingered on her features, and then traveled down her body.

Maya didn’t have time to feel uncomfortable, when she was mostly confused. Who in the hell was this man, and what did he want from her?

“Maya, is it?” the man asked.